Sale Shopping and Bargain Homewares

I've never really been a big fan of sale shopping, just looking at those rails of badly organised, jumbled clothing gives me a horrible sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I think it’s partly that I just don't have the patience required to wade through the masses of clothes looking for the best bargains although I’m sure my lack of sale shopping success isn’t helped either by the pandemonium that is the first few days of the post-Christmas sales with all their attendant pushing and shoving, clothes trampling and disgruntled screaming children –anyone who has ever dared to venture into Next on Boxing Day will know exactly what I mean.

Nowadays I avoid the first weeks of the sales completely and usually stroll in around mid-January when things are much quieter and I can browse at my leisure. This year this strategy really paid off and I found some amazing bargains that were double or even triple discounted!

 

 

My first purchase this year was this wooden Shabby Chic ‘Love’ hook to hang jewellery on. Before buying this my necklaces were in a sprawling knotted mess spilling into three separate jewellery boxes, now I’ve used it to hang my favourite pendants and beads on which keeps them tangle-free and has freed up a lot more space for other items in my jewellery box. It wasn’t a huge saving but still a bargain at £5.

While browsing online I also found this very elegant voile and crystal light shade from Argos, I think it looks much more expensive than its £9.99 price tag. It’s still available here but unfortunately no longer on sale.

Last but not least of the homewares (and not technically a sale item) is this wooden ampersand. I was in Primark exchanging an unwanted Christmas gift when I spotted it, I love freestanding letters and symbols and after looking at similar items for a lot more I couldn’t believe it when I learnt this was only £4 full price! I’m not keen on the matt black finish though so I will be customising it in some way very soon.

Also spotted during my inaugural trip to Primark were these adorable short pyjamas. In the past Primark sizing has started at an 8 so I was pleased to see they’ve now added a 6 to their range, although I did find that while the shorts fitted me perfectly the top was verrry long in the body so despite the small size the fit wasn’t very petite-friendly, nevertheless I thought they were just too cute to resist so I added them to my basket, and as an extra bonus when I got to the till I found they had been marked down to a ridiculously cheap £4.50!  

Next I popped into Miss Selfridge –who had the best organised sale section I’ve seen for ages combined with some fantastic reductions! I chose these light beige chinos (£15, reduced from £38) that I thought would be the perfect spring/summer transitional piece. Being chronically short-of-leg I wasn’t sure I’d be able to carry this type of trousers off but I found by cuffing them and adding heels they actually looked ok. I loved the fact they also came with a great quality tan belt that in my opinion would have justified the price on its own. Available here online.

Lipsy has always been one of my go-to shops for pretty evening dresses, over the past couple of seasons I've noticed they've started to add more wearable daytime pieces too. I think these shorts are the perfect blend of both, paired with a sparkly top, a clutch and heels they’ll work for a night out, equally I can also see me wearing them with a vest and sandals during the day. I picked these up for half of the original price- £17.50.  

Finally although I live in heels I do occasionally see a pair of flats I really like, and these Ravel patent ballet pumps immediately caught my eye. I thought the shape was really delicate and flattering and the patent finish and bow detail gave them a chic, Audrey Hepburn-esque vibe. I’ve always been a fan of ravel shoes since they had high street stores so I was excited to find something from them that I knew would be great quality for only £17!

Purchases made: 7 

Money saved: £££   

Sale success at last: Priceless!

Grand Designs in Gingerbread

A few days ago a friend asked me about the Gingerbread house in the post below...

here's what you saw...

...and here's what you didn't!

Erecting the walls

That’s right, I admit it, I cheated and used a (gasp!) pre-baked kit. This included a (near useless) cardboard base, four gingerbread ‘walls’ and two ‘roof’ pieces, an industrial quantity of icing and some sweets to decorate. The first thing I did was ditch the flimsy base in favour of a solid cake board and replace the garish sweets with some tubes of my favourite treats, Jelly Tots and Fruit Pastilles. Next I mixed up a small amount of the icing adding water a little at a time until I achieved a stiff, toothpaste-like consistency. Assembling the house was the trickiest part of the project so I tackled it in several stages. First I applied a line of icing with a pallet knife to the edges of the walls and attached them to the front and back of the house, tidying up any icing that squashed out with a clean knife for a neat finish. I left the base to set for a couple of hours before attaching the roof in the same way. I joined one side under the other rather than at the edges for extra stability (using what I’m reliably informed is a butt joint rather than a mitre joint- see I told you there was engineering involved!).

Creating a lattice work roof

Now for the fun part- the decoration! I mixed up some more icing and filled the piping bag provided, I didn’t like idea of just spreading the roof with icing so I piped a series of straight lines at 45 degree angles creating a pretty lattice effect. Where the lines intersected I put a Jelly Tot. Around the edges of the roof and walls I piped a series of dots, applying even pressure then pulling sharply up and away leaving a little point. I created the icicles that line the bottom of the roof using a similar technique only pulling down and away more slowly to form an elongated tip. This step is a little tricky so it's a good idea to practice first.

Decorating the front & back

I created the front and back of the house by roughly sketching out the design I wanted and transferring it freehand to the gingerbread. I drew the windows and doors applying steady, even pressure to the piping bag and finished them off with a mixture of Jelly Tots and Fruit Pastilles. Around the base of the house I piped some more dots and stuck Jelly Tots around the base, I finished the whole thing off with a light dusting of icing sugar through a sieve. And it was as arduous simple as that! Now for the totally gratuitous 360 degree photos! 

Ta-da!

Happy New Year & Some (Belated) Christmas Photos

I hope everyone had a merry Christmas and 2012 is getting off to a great start for you all. I wanted to upload a couple of quick snaps I took over the festive period and to thank everyone who helped to make it such a magical Christmas.

Christmas Tree in Red & Gold- this took nearly 5 hours to put up and decorate!

An adorable pull-up Santa I just had to have

Baubles on the tree

And another…I really think I need to invest in a macro lens…

My Christmas engineering project- a gingerbread house

My awesome pile of Christmas pressies! A huge thank you to everyone who bought me a gift, I feel so spoilt!

The First Snow of Winter (Well Kind Of)

I'm dreaming of a white Christmas...

Living in one of the coldest most Northerly parts of England, it’s not unusual to find myself buried under several feet of snow at this time of year. Not that I mind at all, snow at Christmastime always makes me feel even more festive and cosy, but unfortunately apart from a freak blizzard a week or so ago we haven’t any snow at all this year. So while it looks like 2011 might not be a white Christmas I thought I’d share some photos I took last year when most of the country was snowbound for nearly a month!

...just like the ones I used to know

Thanks for reading! Have a great Christmas everyone

35 Years of Warehouse + Save 25% Off Your Online Order!

My Warehouse Wish List

 Button Top Full Dress

Metal Bow Narrow Alice Band
Peter Pan Jumper

Ponte Skater Skirt

Textured Heart Small Necklace

Silk Bird Print Dress 

Diamond Oversize Bag

Triple Lock Purse

Warehouse appeared on the British highstreet 35 years ago when it opened its first store in London in 1976 with the aim of making fashion accessible to all. I’ve always found Warehouse great for quality fashion staples as well as the occasional stand-out piece. A few years ago a large portion of my wardrobe came from them, however I’ve found recently their sizing has grown increasingly erratic and the stores can be a little drab and uninspiring.

I was tempted back to Warehouse when I saw a 25% off promotion advertised in the November edition of Elle magazine. The Warehouse website is well laid out with clothes grouped into clearly defined categories as well as by trend and occasion. True to form their basics were great –just as simple and chic as I remembered. I was also really impressed by the way they’ve updated their collections with a lot of more adventurous fashion pieces. The website showcased an absolutely stunning range of dresses from casual day dresses to elegant evening dresses to fun party dresses -perfect for the festive season!

Soon I had compiled a lengthy wish list of items. I narrowed it down to a few pieces and added them to my basket. I was disappointed that half way through the checkout I was told several of them weren’t available and were removed from the order. Because I spent over £75 I qualified for free next day delivery (normally £4.99), so I had my parcel before lunch time the very next day- an unexpected bonus! Everything was really well packaged, either neatly folded in individual bags or delivered hanging with a plastic cover. I was impressed that even the belt buckle on a skirt I ordered had been carefully wrapped in tissue paper.  

The appearance and quality of the two dresses and skirt I ordered was excellent, fabrics felt luxurious and hung beautifully and little finishing touches like brass buttons or exposed zips were lovely, but once again inconsistent sizing let the clothes down. One dress, a stunning pale pink lace shift –very Jackie O!- fit snuggly, yet the silk bird print dress I had ordered in the same size totally hung off me, leaving me unsure whether to risk alterations or simply return, a shame as I absolutely loved everything I ordered.

If you want to try Warehouse out for yourself use the promotional code BIRTHDAY3 online at Warehouse.co.uk  to receive 25% off until 13^th November 2011. To claim the discount in store look for the voucher in the November issue of Elle magazine.